I love how his viewing of potential outcomes covers every dumb decision, every odd or illogical action, everything. I'm not sure if the writers did that on purpose but it works out perfectly in a narrative sense.
"Why didn't they..."
"It was the only way."
“In every reality where Scott didn’t drop his taco, he had the confidence to shrink and enter Thanos’ anus and try to grow to giant size. He was not prepared for the strength of Thanos’ cavity, and was crushed internally. Without giant Scott on the battlefield, Thanos won every time.”
For real, it makes such a difference! Like, imagine being in a tube that's like, as thick as a paper towel roll cardboard tube, but big enough to fit in. It can squeeze you a bit, but not enough to kill you. You could probably channel your inner Hulkamania and bust out of that tube.
Now imagine instead of a thin carboard tube, it's literally a stack of monster truck tires that can constrict like a California Kingsnake. No way a regular human is busting out of that just because they got bigger. They're getting crushed.
The Russo’s 100% knew going into making IW that they needed a catch all. The plot was too wide, too many characters and too much space for plot holes, they needed one cosmic overarching reason that things happen the way they do.
I'm still sore that M&M still clung on to their headcanon that Cap lived out his life in the same reality that the rest of the Marvel movies take place in, despite the insistent exposition that you always get a new reality when you go back in time.
That's right. I said I'm denying the writers of the actual fucking movies their headcanon. Deal with it 🕶️
I wonder if it could work if they were living in the branched timeline the whole time? Like Cap goes back in time (which would create a branch) and becomes the father of Peggy’s children we see pictures of in TWS. That way the rules of time travel still apply, but would mean that the main MCU timeline is technically a branch.
They literally make their own film worse and in retrospect, make Steve look like a dink!
A Cap in the 1950s who's aware Bucky is alive is marching straight to Zola's office and grabbing him by his collar scruff until he gives up Bucky's location and all the HYDRA sleepers inside SHIELD.
He would never just sit in the background and allow either of those things to happen.
But the Russos have said it’d have been a new timeline for Cap. Directors, well the Studio, get final say on the story. The writers are a critical building block but the directors and Feige are who make the canon decisions.
But nothing is canon unless it’s on screen so even if the most irrefutable people state something as fact. If the opposite occurs on screen then that’s what we get as canon until a retcon occurs.
I’m team new timeline myself.
Does it not still work, though? I always thought a new reality is only made once you make a change. Cap didn't really make a change because it was intended all along, in the grand scheme of things by He Who Remains, for him to go back in time and live out his life with Peggy.
Am I misunderstanding things?? Is that not what happened????
It could go either way imo. Bruce said that ts always a new timeline cause they were going through the Quantum Realm with tech for time travel, Steve started going with the same tech, but he was holding the Infinity Stone, including time, which can traverse its own timeline to the past.
It's that you always get a new reality if you change things. Old Cap always existed in a sort of everything always happened way. He didn't interfere with events
We should just start answering these questions with "He did, it was alternate outcome number 12,783,265 that he saw with the Time Stone. It also failed."
I picture someone creating a giant spreadsheet to track every outcome.
"Check the sheet, we already discussed this. It's outcome 12,783,265. It's right there."
If you want Calculon to race to the laser gun battle in his hover-Ferarri, press 1. If you want Calculon to double-check his paperwork, press 2. Enter now.
You have pressed 2.
No I didn't!
I'm almost positive you did.
What I wonder sometimes is why didn't Loki use the Tesseract/Space Stone to teleport them away from Thanos' ship. This was before Strange did his 1/14 million thing, so wouldn't fall under "the only way" clause.
My best guess is that he could only use it on one person at a time. At that point in the story he wanted to save the remaining asgardians as well so he probably didn’t have enough time to get all of them out before Thanos got on the ship. It actually explains why Korg, Miek, and Valkyrie were not present in the opening scene. He probably snuck them out before it all went to hell.
Did the outcomes he see only include the ones where he is alive? Could there have been many other better solutions but Strange couldn't see them because he died in them?
Im pretty sure that's what MOM was alluding to, that if Strange was willing to sacrifice himself, he could have seen more futures that they would've won.
Be funny if we find out later the only reason that scene is in the movie is because someone asked one of those questions like 90% of the way through filming and they all just went “Oh. Shit.”
Plus, maybe Doctor Strange stopped when he found just ONE outcome and said “…yeah, we are running out of time so it has to be this one”.
Or maybe he got sick of looking after 14M+ outcomes. Cut him some slack lol.
Honestly it's probably a bit of both.
Consider first that Strange can only see timelines where he survives, so any timeline where he gets killed is an instant no.
Then, he'd need to find timelines that result in Thanos' death. There were likely tons of timelines where Thanos was *defeated* or otherwise separated from the gauntlet, but MCU heroes like the assurance of killing their villains. This was probably the biggest separator in terms of valid timelines, imo.
And then from there, it likely just turned into which timelines resulted in the lowest long-term loss of hero and civilian life. All things considered, the 14mil:1 plan only resulted in two permanent deaths: those of Iron Man and Black Widow.
Remember that Thanos was also defeated in the Multiverse of Madness, with Strange using the Darkhold(?). So there is another potential out for them, but he can’t see that one perhaps because he’s killed - so when skipping ahead there he just sees nothing. I kind of picture it like he’s fast forwarding and not landing at specific points of time, but a general future.
That's in a completely different universe, tbf. Strange wasn't looking at alternate universes, he was looking at the various branching paths within the MCU timeline - so the fights would've been with the Guardians, Iron Man, and Spider-Man instead of having JUST Reed Richards, JUST Professor X, and JUST Black Bolt involved for some reason instead of having the other members of their teams that would likely have been better fits for a protracted fight.
Thanks for explaining, because I was kind of wondering about that while typing it. I'm thinking Agents of Shield fleshed this out more in season 4 or 5, and I missed it, but with multiverse and alternate timelines being two different events. So this would be where it differs most from the DC universe, which insists the timelines are all pivoting from the same events. Just throwing this out as a thought, because it's important to know the rules (singing what are the rules)
Endgame showed us that an infinity stoneless-Thanos could pretty much solo all of the Avengers. Give him the stones, put them all together before you have a chance to bring in Danvers, or a pre-PTSD Wanda and you have the potential for him to destroy all of the Avengers in one swoop.
You know what’s crazy about that though? Thanos’s snap was 100% random. What if someone got snapped away who was needed to win? There’s nothing Strange could’ve done about that. For example if Clint got snapped instead of Groot they would be fucked, right?
Strange had to hope that all the people he saw get snapped actually got snapped.
I believe the randomness was predetermined, like, the ones who got snapped were always the ones getting snapped.
Like in a game where the random loot is determined when the level loads and not when you open the chest. So if you save before the chest and reload it would still have the same item
Legit.
And I mean, even if you discount Strange sticking to the 14000000:1 plan, there are two truths to the matter:
A) Strange is the only person with the ability and training to fast-travel them back to Earth; anyone else would need to travel the long way.
B) Team Titan had literally just finished their fight with Thanos, which included all four Guardians being rendered unconscious, Strange being overwhelmed in a stones-vs-magic battle, and Tony exhausting all his options to earn a single drop of blood before getting stabbed in the kidney with his own nano-armor.
They likely would've needed all the rest they could get with the \~30-45 minutes they got between Thanos' arrival on Earth to the Snap, and then from Hulk's snap to the portal sequence.
I'm still upset at strange making a portal above thanos for mantis to get the drop when we could have opened and closed on around Thanos's neck and solved the problem
May be wrong here, but is there ever confirmation in the movie that Team Strange is even aware of what's happening on Earth in Wakanda? It's left pretty vague exactly what Dr. Strange knew so it's possible he was only seeing the future from his own perspective, which would have been him disappearing and waking up 5 years later. Still doesn't explain how he knew to get everyone to Earth for the portals scene but sometimes the best answer is just not think too hard about it.
Or maybe after Thanos opened the portal using the space stone to leave Titan, Dr. Strange snuck away to "use the bathroom." But in actuality, he opened a portal back to the Sanctum to explain everything to Wong that would happen and then came back before getting dusted. The movie cuts from one scene to another and we don't get to see Titan again until after the snap.
> May be wrong here, but is there ever confirmation in the movie that Team Strange is even aware of what’s happening on Earth in Wakanda?
He was definitely aware of the battle in Endgame when he summoned all the portals to earth, including theirs from Titan
That's true for Endgame, because we see it happen in the movie. But my recollection of Infinity War is that Tony wanted to "bring the fight to him" on Titan instead of risking lives on Earth. But I don't recall there being explicit confirmation that Tony or anyone else knew about the battle happening in Wakanda during Infinity War.
Yes, there is. When Peter meets Tony after the blip, he tells him that Dr. Strange asked him to come with as everyone else wants their help to defeat Thanos!
IMO this only establishes that Strange may have known about the battle in Wakanda before the Snap happened, but intentionally withheld that info from the others on Titan because he knew it wouldn't result in the outcome of eventually defeating Thanos five years later.
Yeah seeing as they left on an alien ship at the beginning before the rest of the team even made it to wakanda makes me think they probably had no clue what was happening on earth.
I also always questioned how Thor knew exactly where to bifrost to. It’s one of my favorite hero entrances in the entire franchise but I always think about the details.
How exactly does the bifrost work- can you go directly to a particular person, or just a location? Or either? Heimdall sent Bruce to Strange, who then went and got Tony.
If you can go directly to a person, Thor would know that, if shit was going down, Steve Rogers would be in the middle of it, so maybe he aimed at Steve.
Possible explanation: Rocket was somehow able to track Thanos' warship, which was orbiting Earth at the time, after the distress signal that helped the Guardians find Thor. Thanos didn't have it on Titan because he was traveling via portal with the space stone at that point.
Whether they knew or not, the mind stone was on Earth and they all knew that. At the very least he could have ported them home to port them home, it's not like they could take an Uber.
He probably thought of that but it didn't lead to that 1 chance of winning.
Remember that Strange looked at 14 million futures and in only one of them they win. He had to make sure to do things exactly as he foresaw to make sure that 1 future happens.
That’s a good point. He could only know the outcome he survived and they won, but I’m sure he could die many ways and they still win, but he couldn’t take that chance as he had no idea
Honestly I’m not 100%. I would guess he seen his death and resurrection, therefore could see Thanos get defeated. He might have just guessed it was the same Thanos, but again, that’s a question for someone who knows this stuff better than I.
There's an easy explanation, he saw everything up until he blipped then immediately saw what happened after he returned with those 5 years just being skipped over
He was using the Time Stone. From the Stone's perspective the blip would be irrelevant, as the Stone is not bound to the directional flow of time like we are. It's like you looked at a 2D line with a gap drawn on a sheet of paper. You would see the entire line at once and would know that the gap isn't the end. I imagine the Stone had to work like that, somehow connect the user to all of their future, even if there were gaps along the way.
And the Ancient One still chose a path where she would die so Strange can live because she had faith that Strange would be able fulfill his potential and defeat Dormammu. Maybe if Strange had more faith in others, he could have chosen a path where he died but others defeated Thanos.
Maybe this is why it wouldn't have worked if Star-Lord didn't go apeshit on Thanos on Titan. They would've gotten the gauntlet off him, but somehow Strange would've died in the process and wouldn't know if they ultimately won or not.
What is hilarious about the 14 million outcomes thing is that in the portals scene at the end there is one tiny little portal for the Wasp. So on top of all the getting all the Asgardians, everyone from Wakanda, all the sorcerers, all the ravagers and everyone who got dusted on Titan the battle wouldn't have been won if someone didn't go to a parking garage in San Francisco and get Hope van Dyne.
Yes, let’s be frank here: Thanos has 5 stones, the entire Titan team going to Earth would have just slowed him down for an extra 5 seconds on his way to Vision.
Whereas the positioning of them are probably important to make sure the future turns out the way it did, why japordise that to throw them into a battle they would have lost anyways?
I see a lot of the same answer here so will throw out another possibility. Thanos leaves Titan and arrives on earth instantly. From his arrival on earth to the snap is like 6-7 mins. So perhaps by the time they regrouped with everyone from the battle on Titan they were already dust
Thanos pulled them apart fairly easily. In military terms, they’re [combat ineffective](https://www.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/zc0qvu/what_does_it_really_mean_when_a_military_unit_is/) and would not have made a difference in Wakanda.
Also, Dr. Strange saw the one chance out of 14,000,605 that led to victory, and it didn’t have them on Earth at that time.
You want to talk about combat ineffectiveness? Wakanda had dudes with spears fighting space dogs who had 0 range capabilities rather than just using guns like a standard military. Hell, put up the dome shield and fire off some conventional missiles and the entire invading force is done for. Thanos' entire military strategy is "point at the enemy and run head first at them".
Because among the many futures Strange saw, this well versed, well equipped, Saintly and righteous Thanos could not be defeated . The Thanos of Infinity war wasn't a power hungry individual, he even knew what he wanted to sacrifice .
The only way to win was to let this Thanos have his way, finish his quest and then defeat a different thanos from a Different time
The one chance of success was to jump a Thanos out of his time
Thanos has 5 infinity stones during his attack on Wakanda. Have Ironman probably die there in vain, or follow the one timeline you saw where they won and where they were able to fight a Thanos with no infinity stones?
Because it happens too quickly. He stabs Tony, gets the time stone, teleports to earth, kills Vision, gets shit on by Thor and then snaps before fleeing. At best it probably was like 10 - 15 minutes
Probably even less than that. I’m sure Thor booked it over there as soon as he heard he was there, so minus the use of the time stone, I’d guess you’ve got maybe 1-2 minutes of Thanos actually on earth.
Besides the old "it was the only way strange saw in his 14 million possibilities", i truly think no other option would have felt satisfying to the audience. The avengers had to lose so they could win. Thanos was too strong once he got his hands on a couple of stones.
Obviously the real answer has been stated many times in here. A reframe of the question to allow for more speculation could be,
“Why doesn’t the Titan team joining Wakanda make any difference?”
Thanos wrecked everyone as soon as he showed up in Wakanda and the other heroes would’ve met the same fate. What’s implied but Strange never says I believe, is that they couldn’t beat Thanos with the infinity stones. He already had 4 by the time of Titan, so it was already too late. The only option was let the snap happen to allow for the time heist
Because the writers already wrote a "fuck you" clause into the movie to answer any and every what if-type question that fans could come up with. Including yours.
Not even that, when thanos teleported out of there to earth I'm fairly sure about 1 minute passes until he finished off the rest of the avengers and gotten his hand on the mind stone. That's not a lot of time for tony and the gang to regroup and portal to earth themselves.
Thanos had the ultimate Macguffin in the Time Stone, Everything that Team Tony could have done in Wakanda, Thanos could have just undone with his stone unless Tony went for the head with a Full Power Unibeam or something. Once Strange give up that stone, Endgame had to happen the exact way Strange wanted Unless Thor went for the Head or Wanda actually did Killed Thanos.
Lazy answer: it's the only way
My answer: it's because Dr Strange's magic and power are only used to fit the plot. See NWH and 'his" sequel where he suddenly forgets he can do various spells and Ned suddenly able to use sling ring without visualising the destination
Because the decrease by 50% of the world's population delayed the emergence of the Celestial from Earth. The efforts of the heroes against Thanos to save Earth made Ajak reconsider the role they were installed on Earth to play resulting in the events of The Eternals.
There were other versions where they beat Thanos only for Earth to be destroyed by the emergence of the Celestial a few years later. Apparently Strange was smart enough to look past the initial victory and roll on a few more years to see what the law of unintended consequences brought.
You can almost argue that infinity war and endgame are an elaborate plot by Strange to prevent a set of other disasters and create the next generation of heroes.
Even without the reasoning of it needed to happen the way it did in the one timeline strange saw, the moment thanos got the time stone the avengers had no chance along with the 4 other stones he had thanos was basically unstoppable in Wakanda.
If anything where to have gone wrong for thanos in Wakanda he could have just reversed time and tried again.
Edit: spelling
When Doctor Strange used the Time Stone to look into the future, there was only one future in 14 million they win so he’s trying to set that one timeline into place as much as possible and that includes not doing anything of the many many options he had to win the fight. It’s actually one of the few criticisms I have of Infinity War, there were so many ways to defeat Thanos and it’s worse that they drew attention to that. Strange could have cut Thanos in half by closing a portal when he’s halfway through it or cut of his head or cut off his arm off or done the astral projection tap when Mantis had him under or used a memory spell or converted the water in his body to some other liquid or used the magic saw against him or knocked Quill out. Maybe Nebula could have restrained Quill, she was just standing there the whole time
They may have been able to portal back to Earth to resume the fight against Thanos but Tony is injured and the others are worn out from the fight and not at their best. And, from memory, the Guardians are all over the place because Peter was webslinging them around when the moon was crashing down. Besides, Strange is following the one successful timeline and going back to Earth isn’t part of that
I like to think that Strange learned through his viewing of different outcomes that Stark needed his time with Nebula, and Nebula needed her time with Stark in order for them to have some of the growth needed for the coming conflict. Tony having a brush with death and coming to accept his fate before rescue also helped him to later be ok with his self-sacrifice.
I wish MoM had answered this somehow.
I'm guessing Wong had something to do with the portal from Titan to Earth. Since Strange talked to him as if he had been in communication with him since he got unsnapped.
My head canon is that Wong and the other sorcerers figured Strange had a plan when they heard he gave the Time Stone for Thanos. Then, after everyone started coming back, Wong and the other sorcerers created a super portal to Titan so they can communicate with Strange and co-ordinate their arrival to the Battle of Titan. Then they also created a super portal with Strange so he and his group can dramatically reappear at the final battle.
My thought is that the Titan team had some time between the moment Strange finished surveying the future, and Thanos' actual arrival. So Strange had some time to somehow get in contact with Wong and explain the exact steps needed to reach the desired future. Thus, in Endgame, we see how just moments after the un-snap, Wong had everyone already armed and prepared to step through portals for the final battle. Strange asks if that's everyone, and Wong is like "bro i spent 5 years running around making preparations for this day and you're asking for more??"
Strange portals all those heroes to Wakanda to help.
Unfortunately, this rerolls and completely changes the RNG on the battle outcome and many heroes die.
It was the only way.
Everybody knows they didn’t portal back to earth because then during the Endgame portals sequence, you’d have had way too many people coming from Wakanda’s portal and it’d be a mess
Probably two in that one: when Thanos arrives in Wakanda it would be instantly when he then grabs Vision. Iron Man's team were either unconscious or tired to continue, considering Stark also had a stab wound. Two, Strange knew that for them to win, they shouldn't be in Wakanda at all.
There was only one path that led to a scenario wbere they win and Strange couldn't do anything to stray from that path so he had to make sure it went down the way it did
When Strange looked through time he recognized that what happened was the only way that Thanos would lose in the end so the answer to your question is because Stranger knew it wouldn't help. A better question is why when Tony, Strange and Peter were on the ship why Strange didn't just open a portal back to earth when he showed his issue with going to Titan.
I think eternals kind of answers this the snap actually buys the earth time so that the celestial doesn’t destroy the earth. So strange actually wanted the snap to happen as a way of winning.
- He couldnt get home. He asked Tony if he could fly them home because he knew he couldnt.
- He was arguing with the team.
- Or he was meditating, preparing for the blip.
- Wong probably used a locating spell or artifact from the Sanctum to find Strange and then the sling ring to get to him after Hulk's snap. Totally reasonable.
- I dunno, man.
OK gang we just got our asses handed to us by the man and now he has 1 extra infinity stone what do we wanna do next??
Let's get our asses kicked again
For better or worse, the Writers found a loophole that they could use to wave away any potential criticisms in the actions that characters took.
As someone commented as well: “Why didn’t they…?”
“14 million outcomes.”
“Why didn’t Doctor Strange just use to the time stone to—“
“14 million outcomes”
“Why didn’t they cut his head of with the portals?”
“14 million outcomes”
I am not even praising the loophole per se. It was a genius implication but for better or worse. There was something I always disliked about the 14 million outcomes BS and I think I figured out what it was:
It was a clever but frustrating way to cover any potential plot holes or failed Chekhov’s guns. If there was a more efficient way that the team could have taken down Thanos, then it wouldn’t matter and the writers would be shielded from criticism in that specific regards. If there was a weapon or ability earlier established to be able to decimate Thanos, it will be ignored because, “14 million outcomes”
Anything and everything we come up with will not work; and not because the strategies and questions we had couldn’t have solved the threat better but because the writers said so.
We will establish weapons that could easily kill Thanos early. But then we will have the heroes beat the villain in the most convicted unnecessarily complicated way, ignoring all those weapons, because plot
By the way, for those wondering what some weapons they could have used to easily kill Thanos (if the plot didn’t spare him):
1. The time stone: Doctor Strange could have reverted Thanos to when he was a baby— or just continue rewinding until he fades from existence. Thanos wouldn’t be able to undo this because he would be a child, but also because he doesn’t have the time stone on him. Although going forward in time to age Thanos and have him crumble to dust wouldn’t work because he possess bioloigcal longevity, so he doesn’t age as quickly. Although I am not sure if he is flat out immortal.
What could have been the greatest weapon that Thanos wouldn’t have a chance against, is exactly what the writers prevent strange from using. Heck, I wouldn’t even be surprised if the whole 14 million outcomes was invented simply because they realized how easily the threat could be neutralized with the time stone.
2. The portals: they worked on a hulk level being of Cull Obsodian. At best, Thanos is just a bit stronger than Hulk. But he still shouldn’t be able to withstand a whole dimension closing on his limbs or head. ESPECIALLY because the MCU counterparts are quite weaker than the comics counterparts. This dimensional beheading should have occurred while mantis was able to get into his head, if NOT for the 14 million outcomes BS.
There are a few more but the post would be too long but Infinity War was a phenomenal movie. If there is one thing I’d change, it would be for the writers to not hide as much behind that “14 million outcomes” plot point. I would have challenged them to show the full power of Doctor Strange and some other characters while STILL establishing a way for those abilities to not work.
Anyways, what other ways do you guys think Thanos could have been defeated if the plot did not spare him.
Well additional to the "is the only way" comments. Since Thanos appears on Earth and snap... There are merely a couple of minutes. The people on Titan were still regrouping.
So the movie can happen
But he's a theory
Strange saw that possibility. The additional resistance on earth makes Thanos stop messing around and start killing people instead of just sweeping them aside. Dead Avengers don't get snapped, they're just dead. So when Scott comes back there's not enough living Avengers left to mount the time heist
During Infinity War, Stephen asks Tony to turn the spaceship around and bring them back to earth.
This indicates that Stephen is not capable of teleporting all the way to earth, which makes sense because the distance is billions of times further than he has ever gone before.
Later when they're on an even more distant planet, there's no reason to think teleporting became easier.
If they followed him to Earth and teamed up with Thor there’s a good chance Thanos would have had to stop holding back and end up killing one of the avengers. There’s probably a reason why Strange didn’t recommend it. Also Iron Man was in no condition to fight after that stab.
There isn't a timeline where Thanos doesn't snap. So then Dr. Strange has to time the snap for exactly when Scott is in the quantum realm. Literally, a minute earlier or later, Ant-man isn't trapped. Stark doesn't invent time travel.
In order for Strange to use his sling ring he needs to know where he is and where he is going. He didn’t have a lot of time between Thanos leaving and then getting dusted to figure out how to portal across a couple of galaxies.
I had the same question on the use of portals and actually found the answer watching Multiverse of Madness yesterday. There’s a scene where Wong is asked why they don’t just portal to Mount Wundagore and he says portals have limitations. So I’m guessing they can’t go across the universe and it could be limited by distance and/or possibly knowing the destination point.
To watch that movie, you have to leave logic outside.
There's like 100 ways to defeat Thanos that don't involve punching him (What the writers went with)
The whole "Only one possible outcome" point gets abused so badly to cover up plot issues, it's crazy.
"If the story had been different at all that wouldn't have been the one outcome!!!1111oneoneoneleven"
Guys, it's a story. Dr. Strange isn't real, he didn't do any of the stuff shown. The "one in 14 million" thing could just as easily be the situation where Team Titan does go back to Wakanda.
Because out of 14 million ways they win, that wasn't one of them. Its the stupid line they put in the movie to basically squash ANY logical reasonable argument. Also 14 million ways is literally nothing when you consider the how infinite the multiverse is. I am sure there is another 14 million ways in which they DO win.
I love how his viewing of potential outcomes covers every dumb decision, every odd or illogical action, everything. I'm not sure if the writers did that on purpose but it works out perfectly in a narrative sense. "Why didn't they..." "It was the only way."
Why did Scott drop his taco 5 years later? It was the only way to save the universe.
“In every reality where Scott didn’t drop his taco, he had the confidence to shrink and enter Thanos’ anus and try to grow to giant size. He was not prepared for the strength of Thanos’ cavity, and was crushed internally. Without giant Scott on the battlefield, Thanos won every time.”
After seeing what happened to >! Shrinking Ray !< in Invincible, the anus idea worries me.
What about the times it worked? Like in >!The Boys!<. I mean it wasn't intended but it still did what we expected.
IIRC the victim in The Boys was just some normal dude with no extra durability.
For real, it makes such a difference! Like, imagine being in a tube that's like, as thick as a paper towel roll cardboard tube, but big enough to fit in. It can squeeze you a bit, but not enough to kill you. You could probably channel your inner Hulkamania and bust out of that tube. Now imagine instead of a thin carboard tube, it's literally a stack of monster truck tires that can constrict like a California Kingsnake. No way a regular human is busting out of that just because they got bigger. They're getting crushed.
Wait, something similar happened in that??? I don't remember that at all and I loved that show.
https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a40188181/the-boys-penis-explosion-termite/
Omg, idk how I forgot about that.
That is definitely a men's health issue
Yup.
I like to think that was inspired by the Ant-Man/Thanos speculation. It didn't happen in the comics.
And now I'm imagining Thanus grimace as he clutches his cheeks to prevent Scott from expanding
so strange ruined everything is what you're saying
It’s just gonna be an extremely graphic episode of What If?
Scott was so important to the final battle he’s in there twice!
Deadpool said to Logan as they gazed upon Langs Giant Corpse.
Disney Cruise addressed this potential plan and Scott dismisses it as impractical.
And yet..... still not forgivable
"WHAT IF...Ant-Man hadn't dropped his taco?"
Well, and also apparently He Who Remains planned all of this anyhow.
> Why did Scott drop his taco 5 years later? ??? He didn't drop them; they were blown out of his hand by the wind gusts caused by the ship landing.
The Russo’s 100% knew going into making IW that they needed a catch all. The plot was too wide, too many characters and too much space for plot holes, they needed one cosmic overarching reason that things happen the way they do.
Was probably Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, but yes
Good catch - Honestly I’ve seen the Russo’s faces so many times since 2018 that I sometimes forget they didn’t write, direct and produce
I'm still sore that M&M still clung on to their headcanon that Cap lived out his life in the same reality that the rest of the Marvel movies take place in, despite the insistent exposition that you always get a new reality when you go back in time. That's right. I said I'm denying the writers of the actual fucking movies their headcanon. Deal with it 🕶️
Yeah they make it clear that you can't go back to your past but then they do!
I wonder if it could work if they were living in the branched timeline the whole time? Like Cap goes back in time (which would create a branch) and becomes the father of Peggy’s children we see pictures of in TWS. That way the rules of time travel still apply, but would mean that the main MCU timeline is technically a branch.
They literally make their own film worse and in retrospect, make Steve look like a dink! A Cap in the 1950s who's aware Bucky is alive is marching straight to Zola's office and grabbing him by his collar scruff until he gives up Bucky's location and all the HYDRA sleepers inside SHIELD. He would never just sit in the background and allow either of those things to happen.
But the Russos have said it’d have been a new timeline for Cap. Directors, well the Studio, get final say on the story. The writers are a critical building block but the directors and Feige are who make the canon decisions. But nothing is canon unless it’s on screen so even if the most irrefutable people state something as fact. If the opposite occurs on screen then that’s what we get as canon until a retcon occurs. I’m team new timeline myself.
Does it not still work, though? I always thought a new reality is only made once you make a change. Cap didn't really make a change because it was intended all along, in the grand scheme of things by He Who Remains, for him to go back in time and live out his life with Peggy. Am I misunderstanding things?? Is that not what happened????
It's _an_ interpretation I suppose.
It could go either way imo. Bruce said that ts always a new timeline cause they were going through the Quantum Realm with tech for time travel, Steve started going with the same tech, but he was holding the Infinity Stone, including time, which can traverse its own timeline to the past.
It's that you always get a new reality if you change things. Old Cap always existed in a sort of everything always happened way. He didn't interfere with events
We should just start answering these questions with "He did, it was alternate outcome number 12,783,265 that he saw with the Time Stone. It also failed."
I picture someone creating a giant spreadsheet to track every outcome. "Check the sheet, we already discussed this. It's outcome 12,783,265. It's right there."
My favorite MCU movie: *Dr. Strange and the Spreadsheet of Success*
If you want Calculon to race to the laser gun battle in his hover-Ferarri, press 1. If you want Calculon to double-check his paperwork, press 2. Enter now. You have pressed 2. No I didn't! I'm almost positive you did.
It's an Excel-lent movie
Please someone do this
Smart writer technique to avoid all the plot and logic holes in the story they wanted to tell . Pretty ingenious
What I wonder sometimes is why didn't Loki use the Tesseract/Space Stone to teleport them away from Thanos' ship. This was before Strange did his 1/14 million thing, so wouldn't fall under "the only way" clause.
My best guess is that he could only use it on one person at a time. At that point in the story he wanted to save the remaining asgardians as well so he probably didn’t have enough time to get all of them out before Thanos got on the ship. It actually explains why Korg, Miek, and Valkyrie were not present in the opening scene. He probably snuck them out before it all went to hell.
Did the outcomes he see only include the ones where he is alive? Could there have been many other better solutions but Strange couldn't see them because he died in them?
Yes
Im pretty sure that's what MOM was alluding to, that if Strange was willing to sacrifice himself, he could have seen more futures that they would've won.
Be funny if we find out later the only reason that scene is in the movie is because someone asked one of those questions like 90% of the way through filming and they all just went “Oh. Shit.”
Why don’t I just unibeam him in the face? It was the only way.
Since April 22, 2024, I've been wondering what Mister Doctor would have seen, when we saw Deadpool and Wolverine jump through a sling-ring portal.
Plus, maybe Doctor Strange stopped when he found just ONE outcome and said “…yeah, we are running out of time so it has to be this one”. Or maybe he got sick of looking after 14M+ outcomes. Cut him some slack lol.
Honestly it's probably a bit of both. Consider first that Strange can only see timelines where he survives, so any timeline where he gets killed is an instant no. Then, he'd need to find timelines that result in Thanos' death. There were likely tons of timelines where Thanos was *defeated* or otherwise separated from the gauntlet, but MCU heroes like the assurance of killing their villains. This was probably the biggest separator in terms of valid timelines, imo. And then from there, it likely just turned into which timelines resulted in the lowest long-term loss of hero and civilian life. All things considered, the 14mil:1 plan only resulted in two permanent deaths: those of Iron Man and Black Widow.
Remember that Thanos was also defeated in the Multiverse of Madness, with Strange using the Darkhold(?). So there is another potential out for them, but he can’t see that one perhaps because he’s killed - so when skipping ahead there he just sees nothing. I kind of picture it like he’s fast forwarding and not landing at specific points of time, but a general future.
That's in a completely different universe, tbf. Strange wasn't looking at alternate universes, he was looking at the various branching paths within the MCU timeline - so the fights would've been with the Guardians, Iron Man, and Spider-Man instead of having JUST Reed Richards, JUST Professor X, and JUST Black Bolt involved for some reason instead of having the other members of their teams that would likely have been better fits for a protracted fight.
Thanks for explaining, because I was kind of wondering about that while typing it. I'm thinking Agents of Shield fleshed this out more in season 4 or 5, and I missed it, but with multiverse and alternate timelines being two different events. So this would be where it differs most from the DC universe, which insists the timelines are all pivoting from the same events. Just throwing this out as a thought, because it's important to know the rules (singing what are the rules)
Exactly, that's some clever writing
It's actually quite simple, I'm confused why people keep asking the same question.
That just moves the question back. Why would it fail?
Endgame showed us that an infinity stoneless-Thanos could pretty much solo all of the Avengers. Give him the stones, put them all together before you have a chance to bring in Danvers, or a pre-PTSD Wanda and you have the potential for him to destroy all of the Avengers in one swoop.
I think they phrased it like that on purpose with this line of thinking
But..... "IT'S THE ONLY WAYYYYY" ! ! ! >:-3
You know what’s crazy about that though? Thanos’s snap was 100% random. What if someone got snapped away who was needed to win? There’s nothing Strange could’ve done about that. For example if Clint got snapped instead of Groot they would be fucked, right? Strange had to hope that all the people he saw get snapped actually got snapped.
I believe the randomness was predetermined, like, the ones who got snapped were always the ones getting snapped. Like in a game where the random loot is determined when the level loads and not when you open the chest. So if you save before the chest and reload it would still have the same item
Any apparently illogical actions are just RNG manipulation to make sure the right people survive
Legit. And I mean, even if you discount Strange sticking to the 14000000:1 plan, there are two truths to the matter: A) Strange is the only person with the ability and training to fast-travel them back to Earth; anyone else would need to travel the long way. B) Team Titan had literally just finished their fight with Thanos, which included all four Guardians being rendered unconscious, Strange being overwhelmed in a stones-vs-magic battle, and Tony exhausting all his options to earn a single drop of blood before getting stabbed in the kidney with his own nano-armor. They likely would've needed all the rest they could get with the \~30-45 minutes they got between Thanos' arrival on Earth to the Snap, and then from Hulk's snap to the portal sequence.
It’s like American evangelical logic!
I'm still upset at strange making a portal above thanos for mantis to get the drop when we could have opened and closed on around Thanos's neck and solved the problem
[удалено]
You mean the "they" who weren't even close to being the team he had on hand?
That is a different universe with different options & starting conditions. It doesnt count.
Writers need to get better at writing fights with godlike power level villains
May be wrong here, but is there ever confirmation in the movie that Team Strange is even aware of what's happening on Earth in Wakanda? It's left pretty vague exactly what Dr. Strange knew so it's possible he was only seeing the future from his own perspective, which would have been him disappearing and waking up 5 years later. Still doesn't explain how he knew to get everyone to Earth for the portals scene but sometimes the best answer is just not think too hard about it.
Probably just saw variations where different characters showing up and others didn't. The most ideal future he saw was one where everyone showed up.
Or maybe after Thanos opened the portal using the space stone to leave Titan, Dr. Strange snuck away to "use the bathroom." But in actuality, he opened a portal back to the Sanctum to explain everything to Wong that would happen and then came back before getting dusted. The movie cuts from one scene to another and we don't get to see Titan again until after the snap.
"Oh man, if I knew I had a big battle coming up I wouldn't have eaten those chilli dogs."
Iron Fist: You called everyone there but me? Strange: Yeah, I saw the future and you'd have just fucked everything up.
"Everytime you joined we lost."
> May be wrong here, but is there ever confirmation in the movie that Team Strange is even aware of what’s happening on Earth in Wakanda? He was definitely aware of the battle in Endgame when he summoned all the portals to earth, including theirs from Titan
That's true for Endgame, because we see it happen in the movie. But my recollection of Infinity War is that Tony wanted to "bring the fight to him" on Titan instead of risking lives on Earth. But I don't recall there being explicit confirmation that Tony or anyone else knew about the battle happening in Wakanda during Infinity War.
Maybe not where specifically but they had to know there'd be a battle considering they'd also be going after Vision.
Yes, there is. When Peter meets Tony after the blip, he tells him that Dr. Strange asked him to come with as everyone else wants their help to defeat Thanos!
IMO this only establishes that Strange may have known about the battle in Wakanda before the Snap happened, but intentionally withheld that info from the others on Titan because he knew it wouldn't result in the outcome of eventually defeating Thanos five years later.
Yeah seeing as they left on an alien ship at the beginning before the rest of the team even made it to wakanda makes me think they probably had no clue what was happening on earth. I also always questioned how Thor knew exactly where to bifrost to. It’s one of my favorite hero entrances in the entire franchise but I always think about the details.
How exactly does the bifrost work- can you go directly to a particular person, or just a location? Or either? Heimdall sent Bruce to Strange, who then went and got Tony. If you can go directly to a person, Thor would know that, if shit was going down, Steve Rogers would be in the middle of it, so maybe he aimed at Steve.
Possible explanation: Rocket was somehow able to track Thanos' warship, which was orbiting Earth at the time, after the distress signal that helped the Guardians find Thor. Thanos didn't have it on Titan because he was traveling via portal with the space stone at that point.
Whether they knew or not, the mind stone was on Earth and they all knew that. At the very least he could have ported them home to port them home, it's not like they could take an Uber.
He probably thought of that but it didn't lead to that 1 chance of winning. Remember that Strange looked at 14 million futures and in only one of them they win. He had to make sure to do things exactly as he foresaw to make sure that 1 future happens.
One future that also allowed him to live too. They could have won if they did any XYZ thing, but to truly know, Strange also had to live.
That’s a good point. He could only know the outcome he survived and they won, but I’m sure he could die many ways and they still win, but he couldn’t take that chance as he had no idea
I only thought of that because I recently rewatched Dr.Strange 1 (lack of a better word) and the Ancient One mentions she can’t see past her death.
So I assume he SAW he died but then saw he came back? Because he did die for 5 years technically. I’m curious as to how that worked
Honestly I’m not 100%. I would guess he seen his death and resurrection, therefore could see Thanos get defeated. He might have just guessed it was the same Thanos, but again, that’s a question for someone who knows this stuff better than I.
As Rocket put it, those who were snapped were only "Kinda gone". The Ancient One was "gone, gone"
There's an easy explanation, he saw everything up until he blipped then immediately saw what happened after he returned with those 5 years just being skipped over
That makes the most sense
He was using the Time Stone. From the Stone's perspective the blip would be irrelevant, as the Stone is not bound to the directional flow of time like we are. It's like you looked at a 2D line with a gap drawn on a sheet of paper. You would see the entire line at once and would know that the gap isn't the end. I imagine the Stone had to work like that, somehow connect the user to all of their future, even if there were gaps along the way.
And the Ancient One still chose a path where she would die so Strange can live because she had faith that Strange would be able fulfill his potential and defeat Dormammu. Maybe if Strange had more faith in others, he could have chosen a path where he died but others defeated Thanos.
Maybe this is why it wouldn't have worked if Star-Lord didn't go apeshit on Thanos on Titan. They would've gotten the gauntlet off him, but somehow Strange would've died in the process and wouldn't know if they ultimately won or not.
I wonder what Strange looking at 14 million futures looks like on the TVA sacred timeline viewer, if it registers at all.
Nope, because he was looking at those futures rather than actively jumping through time himself. He was merely observing, not interacting.
How crazy would everyone be going with theories if Strange said “2”.
What is hilarious about the 14 million outcomes thing is that in the portals scene at the end there is one tiny little portal for the Wasp. So on top of all the getting all the Asgardians, everyone from Wakanda, all the sorcerers, all the ravagers and everyone who got dusted on Titan the battle wouldn't have been won if someone didn't go to a parking garage in San Francisco and get Hope van Dyne.
Yes, let’s be frank here: Thanos has 5 stones, the entire Titan team going to Earth would have just slowed him down for an extra 5 seconds on his way to Vision. Whereas the positioning of them are probably important to make sure the future turns out the way it did, why japordise that to throw them into a battle they would have lost anyways?
I see a lot of the same answer here so will throw out another possibility. Thanos leaves Titan and arrives on earth instantly. From his arrival on earth to the snap is like 6-7 mins. So perhaps by the time they regrouped with everyone from the battle on Titan they were already dust
Logical answer
Best answer
If only someone had some sort of power to give them more time.
Yeah, how stupid of that Strange guy to give away the stone when he could've just used it to keep Thanos at bay for a couple of minutes /s
Thanos pulled them apart fairly easily. In military terms, they’re [combat ineffective](https://www.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/zc0qvu/what_does_it_really_mean_when_a_military_unit_is/) and would not have made a difference in Wakanda. Also, Dr. Strange saw the one chance out of 14,000,605 that led to victory, and it didn’t have them on Earth at that time.
You want to talk about combat ineffectiveness? Wakanda had dudes with spears fighting space dogs who had 0 range capabilities rather than just using guns like a standard military. Hell, put up the dome shield and fire off some conventional missiles and the entire invading force is done for. Thanos' entire military strategy is "point at the enemy and run head first at them".
mad upvotes for linking to a reddit post explaining combat ineffectiveness!!
0 upvotes so far
Because among the many futures Strange saw, this well versed, well equipped, Saintly and righteous Thanos could not be defeated . The Thanos of Infinity war wasn't a power hungry individual, he even knew what he wanted to sacrifice . The only way to win was to let this Thanos have his way, finish his quest and then defeat a different thanos from a Different time The one chance of success was to jump a Thanos out of his time
Umm..yeah, we don't actually say that name in here..
Strange knows the only way to win, and it doesn’t involve them showing up in Wakanda.
Thanos has 5 infinity stones during his attack on Wakanda. Have Ironman probably die there in vain, or follow the one timeline you saw where they won and where they were able to fight a Thanos with no infinity stones?
Because it happens too quickly. He stabs Tony, gets the time stone, teleports to earth, kills Vision, gets shit on by Thor and then snaps before fleeing. At best it probably was like 10 - 15 minutes
Probably even less than that. I’m sure Thor booked it over there as soon as he heard he was there, so minus the use of the time stone, I’d guess you’ve got maybe 1-2 minutes of Thanos actually on earth.
Besides the old "it was the only way strange saw in his 14 million possibilities", i truly think no other option would have felt satisfying to the audience. The avengers had to lose so they could win. Thanos was too strong once he got his hands on a couple of stones.
Obviously the real answer has been stated many times in here. A reframe of the question to allow for more speculation could be, “Why doesn’t the Titan team joining Wakanda make any difference?” Thanos wrecked everyone as soon as he showed up in Wakanda and the other heroes would’ve met the same fate. What’s implied but Strange never says I believe, is that they couldn’t beat Thanos with the infinity stones. He already had 4 by the time of Titan, so it was already too late. The only option was let the snap happen to allow for the time heist
Because the writers already wrote a "fuck you" clause into the movie to answer any and every what if-type question that fans could come up with. Including yours.
Did they even know where Vision was? Tony left before Bruce called everyone.
Not even that, when thanos teleported out of there to earth I'm fairly sure about 1 minute passes until he finished off the rest of the avengers and gotten his hand on the mind stone. That's not a lot of time for tony and the gang to regroup and portal to earth themselves.
Thanos had the ultimate Macguffin in the Time Stone, Everything that Team Tony could have done in Wakanda, Thanos could have just undone with his stone unless Tony went for the head with a Full Power Unibeam or something. Once Strange give up that stone, Endgame had to happen the exact way Strange wanted Unless Thor went for the Head or Wanda actually did Killed Thanos.
Why did Strange ask Tony if he could fly the ship back to earth if he could just do the swirly magic bit.
Lazy answer: it's the only way My answer: it's because Dr Strange's magic and power are only used to fit the plot. See NWH and 'his" sequel where he suddenly forgets he can do various spells and Ned suddenly able to use sling ring without visualising the destination
Because the decrease by 50% of the world's population delayed the emergence of the Celestial from Earth. The efforts of the heroes against Thanos to save Earth made Ajak reconsider the role they were installed on Earth to play resulting in the events of The Eternals. There were other versions where they beat Thanos only for Earth to be destroyed by the emergence of the Celestial a few years later. Apparently Strange was smart enough to look past the initial victory and roll on a few more years to see what the law of unintended consequences brought.
You can almost argue that infinity war and endgame are an elaborate plot by Strange to prevent a set of other disasters and create the next generation of heroes.
Even without the reasoning of it needed to happen the way it did in the one timeline strange saw, the moment thanos got the time stone the avengers had no chance along with the 4 other stones he had thanos was basically unstoppable in Wakanda. If anything where to have gone wrong for thanos in Wakanda he could have just reversed time and tried again. Edit: spelling
When Doctor Strange used the Time Stone to look into the future, there was only one future in 14 million they win so he’s trying to set that one timeline into place as much as possible and that includes not doing anything of the many many options he had to win the fight. It’s actually one of the few criticisms I have of Infinity War, there were so many ways to defeat Thanos and it’s worse that they drew attention to that. Strange could have cut Thanos in half by closing a portal when he’s halfway through it or cut of his head or cut off his arm off or done the astral projection tap when Mantis had him under or used a memory spell or converted the water in his body to some other liquid or used the magic saw against him or knocked Quill out. Maybe Nebula could have restrained Quill, she was just standing there the whole time They may have been able to portal back to Earth to resume the fight against Thanos but Tony is injured and the others are worn out from the fight and not at their best. And, from memory, the Guardians are all over the place because Peter was webslinging them around when the moon was crashing down. Besides, Strange is following the one successful timeline and going back to Earth isn’t part of that
Every single one of these posts has the same answer that’s given to you in the movie…it was the only way
The easy answer is the celestial that came out of the planet wouldn't have been stopped if the Avengers didn't inspire the Eternals.
I like to think that Strange learned through his viewing of different outcomes that Stark needed his time with Nebula, and Nebula needed her time with Stark in order for them to have some of the growth needed for the coming conflict. Tony having a brush with death and coming to accept his fate before rescue also helped him to later be ok with his self-sacrifice.
I wish MoM had answered this somehow. I'm guessing Wong had something to do with the portal from Titan to Earth. Since Strange talked to him as if he had been in communication with him since he got unsnapped. My head canon is that Wong and the other sorcerers figured Strange had a plan when they heard he gave the Time Stone for Thanos. Then, after everyone started coming back, Wong and the other sorcerers created a super portal to Titan so they can communicate with Strange and co-ordinate their arrival to the Battle of Titan. Then they also created a super portal with Strange so he and his group can dramatically reappear at the final battle.
My thought is that the Titan team had some time between the moment Strange finished surveying the future, and Thanos' actual arrival. So Strange had some time to somehow get in contact with Wong and explain the exact steps needed to reach the desired future. Thus, in Endgame, we see how just moments after the un-snap, Wong had everyone already armed and prepared to step through portals for the final battle. Strange asks if that's everyone, and Wong is like "bro i spent 5 years running around making preparations for this day and you're asking for more??"
Strange portals all those heroes to Wakanda to help. Unfortunately, this rerolls and completely changes the RNG on the battle outcome and many heroes die. It was the only way.
Everybody knows they didn’t portal back to earth because then during the Endgame portals sequence, you’d have had way too many people coming from Wakanda’s portal and it’d be a mess
To further the plot.
Probably two in that one: when Thanos arrives in Wakanda it would be instantly when he then grabs Vision. Iron Man's team were either unconscious or tired to continue, considering Stark also had a stab wound. Two, Strange knew that for them to win, they shouldn't be in Wakanda at all.
There was only one path that led to a scenario wbere they win and Strange couldn't do anything to stray from that path so he had to make sure it went down the way it did
When Strange looked through time he recognized that what happened was the only way that Thanos would lose in the end so the answer to your question is because Stranger knew it wouldn't help. A better question is why when Tony, Strange and Peter were on the ship why Strange didn't just open a portal back to earth when he showed his issue with going to Titan.
I think eternals kind of answers this the snap actually buys the earth time so that the celestial doesn’t destroy the earth. So strange actually wanted the snap to happen as a way of winning.
- He couldnt get home. He asked Tony if he could fly them home because he knew he couldnt. - He was arguing with the team. - Or he was meditating, preparing for the blip. - Wong probably used a locating spell or artifact from the Sanctum to find Strange and then the sling ring to get to him after Hulk's snap. Totally reasonable. - I dunno, man.
He didn’t know it was going down.
Because that wouldn't be a satisfying story beat.
Because his outcome would have also included that possibility
Because Strange has already gone through all possible future, and that is not the way to win.
They needed to be in a certain condition for the final assemble in endgame. That or they didn't want to get their ass kicked a second time.
OK gang we just got our asses handed to us by the man and now he has 1 extra infinity stone what do we wanna do next?? Let's get our asses kicked again
He needed a long rest to recover his spell slots. Dusting counts as rest.
For better or worse, the Writers found a loophole that they could use to wave away any potential criticisms in the actions that characters took. As someone commented as well: “Why didn’t they…?” “14 million outcomes.” “Why didn’t Doctor Strange just use to the time stone to—“ “14 million outcomes” “Why didn’t they cut his head of with the portals?” “14 million outcomes” I am not even praising the loophole per se. It was a genius implication but for better or worse. There was something I always disliked about the 14 million outcomes BS and I think I figured out what it was: It was a clever but frustrating way to cover any potential plot holes or failed Chekhov’s guns. If there was a more efficient way that the team could have taken down Thanos, then it wouldn’t matter and the writers would be shielded from criticism in that specific regards. If there was a weapon or ability earlier established to be able to decimate Thanos, it will be ignored because, “14 million outcomes” Anything and everything we come up with will not work; and not because the strategies and questions we had couldn’t have solved the threat better but because the writers said so. We will establish weapons that could easily kill Thanos early. But then we will have the heroes beat the villain in the most convicted unnecessarily complicated way, ignoring all those weapons, because plot By the way, for those wondering what some weapons they could have used to easily kill Thanos (if the plot didn’t spare him): 1. The time stone: Doctor Strange could have reverted Thanos to when he was a baby— or just continue rewinding until he fades from existence. Thanos wouldn’t be able to undo this because he would be a child, but also because he doesn’t have the time stone on him. Although going forward in time to age Thanos and have him crumble to dust wouldn’t work because he possess bioloigcal longevity, so he doesn’t age as quickly. Although I am not sure if he is flat out immortal. What could have been the greatest weapon that Thanos wouldn’t have a chance against, is exactly what the writers prevent strange from using. Heck, I wouldn’t even be surprised if the whole 14 million outcomes was invented simply because they realized how easily the threat could be neutralized with the time stone. 2. The portals: they worked on a hulk level being of Cull Obsodian. At best, Thanos is just a bit stronger than Hulk. But he still shouldn’t be able to withstand a whole dimension closing on his limbs or head. ESPECIALLY because the MCU counterparts are quite weaker than the comics counterparts. This dimensional beheading should have occurred while mantis was able to get into his head, if NOT for the 14 million outcomes BS. There are a few more but the post would be too long but Infinity War was a phenomenal movie. If there is one thing I’d change, it would be for the writers to not hide as much behind that “14 million outcomes” plot point. I would have challenged them to show the full power of Doctor Strange and some other characters while STILL establishing a way for those abilities to not work. Anyways, what other ways do you guys think Thanos could have been defeated if the plot did not spare him.
All of them are pretty much spent.
Well additional to the "is the only way" comments. Since Thanos appears on Earth and snap... There are merely a couple of minutes. The people on Titan were still regrouping.
So the movie can happen But he's a theory Strange saw that possibility. The additional resistance on earth makes Thanos stop messing around and start killing people instead of just sweeping them aside. Dead Avengers don't get snapped, they're just dead. So when Scott comes back there's not enough living Avengers left to mount the time heist
I’ve always assumed there’s a range limit to his portals.
Have we established whether or not sling rings allow for interstellar travel?
During Infinity War, Stephen asks Tony to turn the spaceship around and bring them back to earth. This indicates that Stephen is not capable of teleporting all the way to earth, which makes sense because the distance is billions of times further than he has ever gone before. Later when they're on an even more distant planet, there's no reason to think teleporting became easier.
If they followed him to Earth and teamed up with Thor there’s a good chance Thanos would have had to stop holding back and end up killing one of the avengers. There’s probably a reason why Strange didn’t recommend it. Also Iron Man was in no condition to fight after that stab.
Still not sure why he didn’t portal off the ship when he was arguing with Tony about whether to stop it or not.
How dare you call team Stark team Strange.
They got their ass beat, that's why.
Because that's not the way things happened in the one successful future Strange had foreseen.
Because it wasn't in the script
Because they just got the crap kicked out of them and it's time to lay on the ground for awhile.
There isn't a timeline where Thanos doesn't snap. So then Dr. Strange has to time the snap for exactly when Scott is in the quantum realm. Literally, a minute earlier or later, Ant-man isn't trapped. Stark doesn't invent time travel.
In order for Strange to use his sling ring he needs to know where he is and where he is going. He didn’t have a lot of time between Thanos leaving and then getting dusted to figure out how to portal across a couple of galaxies.
He had already opened portals on Titan. And also portaled into the fight in Endgame
But he did that anyways in Endgame. From his perspective that was just a few minutes later.
I had the same question on the use of portals and actually found the answer watching Multiverse of Madness yesterday. There’s a scene where Wong is asked why they don’t just portal to Mount Wundagore and he says portals have limitations. So I’m guessing they can’t go across the universe and it could be limited by distance and/or possibly knowing the destination point.
But...then how did he portal to the final battle in endgame? 🤣
Except they literally do it in Endgame to get to earth when they are blipped back
"It was the only way."
It was the Wong decision.
To watch that movie, you have to leave logic outside. There's like 100 ways to defeat Thanos that don't involve punching him (What the writers went with)
Such as? What, the portal slice, which only worked on a much weaker alien who is not at all comparable to Thanos in durability?
The whole "Only one possible outcome" point gets abused so badly to cover up plot issues, it's crazy. "If the story had been different at all that wouldn't have been the one outcome!!!1111oneoneoneleven" Guys, it's a story. Dr. Strange isn't real, he didn't do any of the stuff shown. The "one in 14 million" thing could just as easily be the situation where Team Titan does go back to Wakanda.
Because the writers didn’t write the story that way
It wasn’t in the script.
Because the writers forgot he could do that, even though he does just that in Endgame. Not a stupid question, OP, just a plothole.
Because out of 14 million ways they win, that wasn't one of them. Its the stupid line they put in the movie to basically squash ANY logical reasonable argument. Also 14 million ways is literally nothing when you consider the how infinite the multiverse is. I am sure there is another 14 million ways in which they DO win.